UK out of recession as better-than-expected GDP rises 1%

The strongest quarterly figure since Q3 2007 was announced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in its first estimate this morning. The ONS said production rose by 1.1% on the quarter, and services by 1.3%, but construction continued to weigh with a 2.5% contraction. Ticket sales for the Olympics added a 0.2 percentage point increase to the headline figure. Capital Economics estimated that a reversal of the Q2 "Jubilee effect" - lost output due to extra public holidays - added a further 0.5% to the Q3 number. "Even accounting for this suggests that underlying output manag...